Patterson Predicts Repeated Cross Burning Incidents and Lynchings

William L. Patterson, executive secretary of the Civil Rights Congress, predicted more burning crosses at the College in 1952 at a meeting in Emerson Hall yesterday.

Speaking under the sponsorship of the Harvard Young Progressives, Patterson charged, "You burn a cross to terrorize Negroes."

"Genocide is a crime of the government against the Negro people," he stated. The government has seen hundreds of lynchings, yet has done nothing about it, therefore, "there must be government acquiescence" to these lynching activities.

Patterson, who is awaiting trial on charges of contempt of Congress, went on, "American morals are worse than those of Nazi Germany before the War," and he forecast more race riots and lynchings in 1952. "Most of our churches are Jim Crow churches, so they must worship a Jim Crow God," he noted.

"Anyone in the United States who tries to solve social problems is immediately labelled a Red," Patterson complained. He also suggested that the powers of the federal government be extended so that the government can guarantee equal rights to Negroes in the country.